The discovery of the process for the production of polymers in fluidized beds has provided a means for the production of a diverse array of polymers. Using a gas fluidized bed polymerization process substantially reduces the energy requirements as compared to other processes and most importantly reduces the capital investment required to run such a process to produce polymers.
Gas fluidized bed polymerization plants generally employ a continuous cycle. In one part of the cycle, in a reactor a cycling gas stream is heated by the heat of polymerization. This heat is removed in another part of the cycle by a cooling system external to the reactor.
Generally in a gas fluidized bed process for producing polymers from alpha-olefin monomers a gaseous stream containing one or more monomers is continuously passed through a fluidized bed under reactive conditions in the presence of a catalyst. This gaseous stream is withdrawn from the fluidized bed and recycled back into the reactor. Simultaneously, polymer product is withdrawn from the reactor and new monomer is added to replace the reacted monomer.
It is important to remove heat generated by the reaction in order to maintain the temperature of the gaseous stream inside the reactor at a temperature below the polymer and catalyst degradation temperatures. Further, it is important to prevent agglomeration or formation of chunks of polymer that cannot be removed as product. This is accomplished through control of the temperature of the gaseous stream in the reaction bed to a temperature below the fusion or sticking temperature of the polymer particles produced during the polymerization reaction. Thus, it is understood that the amount of polymer produced in a fluidized bed polymerization process is related to the amount of heat that can be withdrawn from a reaction zone in a fluidized bed within the reactor.
Conventionally, heat has been removed from the gaseous recycle stream by cooling the stream outside the reactor. A requirement of a fluidized bed process is that the velocity of the gaseous recycle stream be sufficient to maintain the fluidized bed in a fluidized state. In a conventional fluidized bed reactor, the amount of fluid circulated to remove the heat of polymerization is greater than the amount of fluid required for support of the fluidized bed and for adequate mixing of the solids in the fluidized bed. However, to prevent excessive entrainment of solids in a gaseous stream withdrawn from the fluidized bed, the velocity of the gaseous stream must be regulated. Also, in a steady state fluidized bed polymerization process wherein the heat generated by the polymerization reaction is substantially proportional to the rate of polymer production, the heat generated is equal to the heat absorbed by the gaseous stream and lost by other means such that the bed temperature remains constant.
For a time, it was thought that the temperature of the gaseous stream external to the reactor otherwise known as the recycle stream temperature could not be decreased below the dew point of the recycle stream. The dew point of the recycle stream is that temperature at which liquid condensate begins to form in the gaseous recycle stream. It was believed that introducing a liquid into a gas phase recycle stream in a fluidized bed polymerization process would inevitably result in plugging of the recycle stream lines, the heat exchanger, the area below the fluidized bed or the gas distributor plate. As a consequence of operating at a temperature above the dew point of the recycle stream to avoid the problems associated with liquid being in the gaseous recycle stream, production rates in commercial reactors could not be significantly increased without enlarging reactor diameters.
In the past there was concern that excessive amounts of liquid in the recycle stream would disrupt the fluidization process to the extent that the fluidized bed would collapse resulting in the sintering of solid polymer particles into a solid mass causing the reactor to shut down. This widely held belief to avoid liquid in the recycle stream can be seen from the following: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,922,322, 4,035,560, 4,359,561 and 5,028,670 and European Patent Application Nos. 0 050 477 and 0 100 879.
Contrary to this belief, it has been demonstrated, as disclosed by Jenkins, III, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,399 and related U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,790 that a recycle stream can be cooled to a temperature below the dew point in a fluidized bed polymerization process resulting in condensing a portion of the recycle stream. The disclosures of these two Jenkins, III, patents are incorporated herein by reference. The resulting stream containing entrained liquid is then returned to the reactor without the aforementioned agglomeration and/or plugging phenomena believed to occur when a liquid is introduced into a fluidized bed polymerization process. This process of purposefully introducing a liquid into a recycle stream or reactor is known in the industry as a "condensed mode" operation of a gas phase polymerization process.
The above-mentioned U.S. patents to Jenkins, III, et al. disclose that when a recycle stream temperature is lowered to a point below its dew point in "condensed mode" operation, an increase in polymer production is possible, as compared to production in a non-condensing mode because of increased cooling capacity. Also, Jenkins, III, et al. found that a substantial increase in space time yield, the amount of polymer production in a given reactor volume, can be achieved by operating in "condensed mode" with little or no change in product properties.
The liquid phase of the two-phase gas/liquid recycle stream mixture in "condensed mode" remains entrained or suspended in the gas phase of the mixture. The cooling of the recycle stream to produce this two-phase mixture results in a liquid/vapor equilibrium. Vaporization of the liquid occurs only when heat is added or pressure is reduced. The increase in space time yields achieved by Jenkins, III, et al. are the result of this increased cooling capacity of the recycle stream which, in turn, is due both to the greater temperature differential between the entering recycle stream and the fluidized bed temperature and to the vaporization of condensed liquid entrained in the recycle stream.
Jenkins, et al. illustrate the difficulty and complexity of control in general and of trying to extend the stable operating zone to optimize the space time yield in a gas phase reactor.
In Jenkins, et al. the recycle gas is cooled and added to the reactor at a temperature below the dew point so that condensed fluids evaporate inside the reactor. The cooling capacity of the recycle gas can be increased further while at a given temperature of the cooling heat transfer medium. One option described is to add non-polymerizing materials (isopentane) to increase the dew point. Because of greater cooling more heat can be removed and therefore higher space time yields are said to be possible. Jenkins, et al. recommends not exceeding 20 weight percent, preferably 2 to 12 weight percent, of condensed liquid in the recycle gas. Some of the potential hazards disclosed include the formation of "mud", maintaining a sufficiently high recycle gas speed or avoiding accumulation of liquid on a distributor plate. Jenkins, et al. is silent on where upper limits for non-polymerizable or polymerizable condensable materials lie and the question of how to optimize the space time yield using condensed mode.
A gas fluidized bed reactor may be controlled to give the desired melt index and density for the polymer at an optimum production. Great care is generally taken to avoid conditions which can lead to formation of chunks or sheets or, in a worse case, an unstable fluidized bed which collapses, or causes polymer particles to fuse together. The control of a fluidized bed therefore has to be exercised to reduce chunking and sheeting and to prevent bed collapse or a need to terminate the reaction and shut down the reactor. This is the reason why commercial scale reactors are designed to operate well within proven stable operating zones, and why the reactors are used in a carefully circumscribed fashion.
Even within the constraints of conventional, safe operation, control is complex adding further to the difficulty and uncertainty of experimentation if one wishes to find new and improved operating conditions.
There are target values, determined by the polymer and the catalyst, for the operating temperature, the ratio of comonomer(s) to monomer and the ratio of hydrogen to monomer. The reactor and cooling system are contained within pressure vessels. Their contents are monitored, without unduly interfering with fluidization by measuring amongst others (1) the pressure at the top; (2) pressure differential at various heights along the bed, (3) temperature upstream of the bed; (4) temperature in the fluidized bed and temperature downstream of the bed as well as (5) the gas composition and (6) gas flow rate. These measurements are used to control the catalyst addition, the monomer partial pressure and velocity of the recycle gas amongst others. Polymer removal is constrained in certain cases by the settled bulk density (non-fluidized) or the fluidized bulk density depending on plant design and these too must be watched as well as the ash level in the polymer. The plant is a closed system. In operation changes in the process of one or more of the measured values lead to consequential changes elsewhere. In the design of plant the optimization of capacity depends on the most restricting element in the overall design.
There is no generally accepted view as to what causes chunking or sheeting. Obviously some fusing together of the polymer particles is involved, possibly because of insufficient heat transfer caused by inadequate fluidization in the fluidized bed. However, no clear correlations have thus far been found between individual settings and measurements and the occurrence of chunking and sheeting. The entirety of the measured values and controls is used therefore conventionally to stay within known, safe operating areas for a given plant design.
Large scale gas phase plants are expensive and highly productive. Risks associated with experimentation in such plants are high because downtime is costly. Therefore it is difficult to explore design and operating boundaries experimentally in view of the costs and risks.
It will be desirable to provide a method of determining a stable operating condition for gas fluidized bed polymerization to facilitate optimum design of the plant and the determination of desirable process conditions in a given plant design. It would also be desirable to provide a gas fluidized bed polymerization process giving a maximum reactor productivity.
It is hence amongst the aims of the invention to help determine stable operating zones for a gas fluidized bed process and plant design, to find criteria for running a process safely with low risk of malfunction and at the same time high reactor productivities, and/or to avoid any constriction in the overall plant capacity due to the reactor productivity.